Peru

Peru

The Peru Country Guide was produced by the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) and Socios Peru.

The Country Guide is a compilation of publicly available information from international institutions, local NGOs, governmental agencies, businesses, media and universities, among others. International and domestic sources are identified on the basis of their expertise and relevance to the Peruvian context, as well as their timeliness and impartiality.

The survey of publicly available, international sources was carried out by DIHR in 2014. The draft was updated and localized by Socios Peru with some interaction with local stakeholders, from January to March 2015. The Guide was then comprehensively updated in early 2016.

The completed Country Guide aims to provide a comprehensive overview, on the basis of the information available, of the ways in which companies do or may impact human rights in Peru. The current Country Guide is not meant as an end product, or a final determination of country conditions. It is intended to be the basis, and the beginning, of a process of dissemination, uptake and modification. DIHR and Socios Peru seek further engagement with local stakeholders, and intend to update the Country Guide on that basis.

4 Aug 2017 — [E]ighteen Aymara community leaders endured the final stages of a trial that had them facing up to 28 years in prison and massive fines for their alleged roles in the 2011 ‘Aymarazo’ protests against the Santa Ana silver mine...Seventeen...were acquitted of all charges; however...Walter Aduviri was sentenced to 7 years in prison and ordered to pay a 2 million sol fine (over $600,000)...for the charge of disturbing...peace...Aymara population...have struggled with a dominant...narrative stigmatizing [them] as alleged “criminals”... “anti-development”...[C]ommunities...found out about the mine through rumors in 2004...[in] 2007...government authorized the...mine...[In 2011, the government] rescinded the...Decree 083 that gave Bear Creek authorization to proceed...In 2014, the company responded...by filing a $1.2 billion case against Peru at [ICSID]... Bear Creek asserts that...protests were politically motivated... There has also been an increase in “… public policies that create new crimes against people who participate in social protests”...With the verdict in the ICSID case due in September [2017], and Aduviri’s harsh sentence, the situation is a confluence of the state's policy to criminalize...protests, and the...impacts of the tools of corporate power, like free trade agreements, when protests cause a mining project to be halted.

24 Jul 2017 — Following a country visit to Peru, UN Working Group experts raised concerns about the high number of social conflicts related to large-scale business operations and noted that the majority of cases are related to protests by local communities against adverse impacts caused by operations in the mining, hydrocarbon, and energy sectors. Experts highlighted abuses related to environmental contamination, criminalization and violence against human rights defenders, lack of meaningful participation and consultation with communities, indigenous rights, and labor rights.

21 Jul 2017 — “China Imperils Latin America’s Environment” – 21 July 2017
While President Trump rolls back environmental protections and announces the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris climate accord, China is trying to position itself as the world’s climate leader, pledging to cooperate with other countries to build an “eco-civilization.” China has established the largest solar panel farm in the world, plans to close over 100 coal-fired power plants, and is committed to…renewable energy by 2020…But if China truly wants to be a climate leader it needs to address its global climate footprint, not just pollution within its borders…China’s lending in Latin American and Caribbean countries provides a telling example of how the country has outsourced its emissions. These loans have gone mainly to projects with significant environmental effects like oil drilling, coal mining, hydroelectric dam construction and road building. Many of the extraction projects are in areas, like the Amazon rain forest, that must be preserved for combating climate change...While [official] guidelines are rarely followed, they show that there is concern among the leadership about the environmental and social impact of the country’s investments abroad. In Nicaragua, Ecuador and Peru, community protests against Chinese operations have led to the killings of local residents, imposition of states of emergency and legal actions against Chinese companies. [Refers to China Development Bank, China Export-Import Bank, Gezhouba]

14 Jul 2017 — “Peru must halt oil talks until indigenous rights and contamination are taken into account” – UN experts - 13 July 2017
…A 30-year contract for future extraction rights is under negotiation…The Special Rapporteurs on hazardous substances and wastes, Baskut Tuncak, and on the rights of indigenous peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, said they are making the call in the light of “grossly inadequate efforts” to provide remedies for previous widespread oil spills in the region…“The oil spills continue to adversely impact the rights of indigenous peoples, and the ongoing negotiating process does not give sufficient recognition of their right to free, prior and informed consent,” noted the Special Rapporteurs…“The Peruvian Government must suspend the direct negotiations with companies until the right to free, prior and informed consent is guaranteed, and all environmental damage has been remedied,” they said…The state-owned company Petroperú is negotiating a new contract in conjunction with Perupetro, another state company responsible for production. Argentine firm Pluspetrol withdrew from the site in 2015, and a temporary contract was given to Canadian firm Pacific Stratus Energy…